Tell Me a Story
by Smartiepants13
Summary: Bella wants Edward to tell her a little more about his past. Lots of Edward anecdotes and cute stories about his childhood. Rating just for safety.
1. Chapter 1: Make a Memory

**Bella wants Edward to tell her a little more about his past, and he obliges. **

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

**Reviews are warmly welcomed**

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"Tell me a story" I breathed.

Edward and I had been lying in our meadow, quietly by ourselves, for the whole day. It had been one of those rare sunny days cherished by everyone in the small town of Forks. The rest of the family was out hunting, and Nessie and Jake were out somewhere.

"What kind of story, love?" Edward replied, his breathe tickling my ear.

_What kind of story?_ The best kind, of course. I wanted to know about him. I wanted to know everything there was to know about him. I wanted Edward to tell me everything he could remember of his human life. I felt like there was so much to him that I didn't know about and being his wife I felt I was entitled to know his past.

I shifted so that I was lying almost completely on top of him. We were both fully clothed, aside from Edward's chest which was shirtless. I wrapped one arm around his neck, pulling myself closer to him, and he instinctively wrapped both arms around my lower back and tucked my head under his chin. I began tracing random patterns on his perfect, sparkling skin.

"Bella?" he continued, when I neglected to respond.

With much less effort than the time I first attempted it, I pushed my shield away and let Edward into my mind. As usual, he gasped slightly, still not used to being inside my head.

I focused on the memories I had of him telling me how he was transformed by Carlisle, dying of the Spanish influenza of 1918, then on what my imagination had conjured up for what I thought Edward's life was like when he was human.

I always pictured Edward as being unbelievably gorgeous as a human, with his green eyes, messy bronze hair, and heartbreaking smile. But every day my ideas changed about what his parents might have looked like, who his friends were, how he did in school, what foods he liked and a million other things.

"So that's what's on your mind?" He chuckled slightly and stroked my hair.

He could see the agreement in my head.

"Well…" he paused. I tilted my head to look him in the eye. His answering smile made me lose control and my shield snapped back. "I don't know where to start."

"How about the beginning?" I suggested.

"Okay then…well, as you know, I was born in Chicago on June 20th, 1901, to Elizabeth and Edward Masen. My father was a successful lawyer, so I was moderately wealthy, I guess you could say. I loved my parents dearly. I got my hair colour from my mother, my eyes from my father…" He paused seemingly unsure of what to say next.

I lifted my shield once more, and practically shouted "BORING" in my head. He laughed out loud. "Well I don't know what you want me to tell you Bella."

"Tell me the good stuff. I already know about your parents. Tell me about your life. Like what you did at home, how school was, who your friends were. Anything you can remember." I said.

He eyed me for a moment, a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes. "Alright then. But you have to do something for me in return."

"Anything". I wanted to hear his story so badly.

"You need to show me your past." He replied.

"But you already know so much about me. I want to know about _you_." I pouted.

"Sure, I know some of your life. But I want to _see_ your past. I want to live it with you."

He momentarily caught me off guard. I never thought before about showing him all my memories. It didn't seem like such a bad idea. Of course it would be completely mortifying, but I really wanted to hear his story. I could probably talk him out of showing him my memories later.

"Deal," I agreed quickly.

He nodded his head in satisfaction. "I'll warn you though, first, that I don't have a perfect memory of my human past. Things after 1918 are all crystal clear, but human memories are a little foggy at times."

"That's okay. Continue, please."

He kissed my hair before speaking again. "You know, Bella, it's often with you that human memories come back to me. Did you known that?"

I shook my head.

"Well, it is. I think the first time I had a… 'flashback' moment was when I was thinking of your scent shortly after I returned from Denali, after I had behaved so rudely towards you.

"I remembered one autumn evening, when I was about eight years old, my mother was baking apple pie. She was a great cook, but her apple pies were the most exquisite dessert anyone on the street had ever tasted. The smell would fill the kitchen with a delicious aroma, almost as mouth-watering as your scent, Bella. When neighbours would hear she was baking that night, they would always come up with an excuse to stop by, and my mother would always give them a slice or two to take home.

"If we ever had leftovers those evenings, the next day at school I would share a slice with some close friends. I was quite popular those specific days." Edward chuckled as he remembered this, and I realized I had been grinning from ear to ear.

"Anyways, that one night I remember I was famished. I don't remember why, but it was probably because I had been forced to stay after school to do chores for some reason or another. Believe it or not, I was quite the troublemaker when I was young."

"Haha, Edward the troublemaker" I giggled. "That's hard to believe. You're such a gentleman."

"Well, I got my act together as I got older, I guess. In any case, I was famished and my mother had left the pie out to cool. Being the irrational, stupid, young boy I was, I acted on an impulse. I ate the _whole_ pie, the whole, scorching hot, delicious apple pie in less than ten minutes."

"Whoa." I chuckled, disbelief clearly etched on my face. "Did you get caught?"

"Naturally," Edward smiled at my reaction. "I was just about to hide the empty pan when both my parents caught me. But their punishment wasn't nearly as bad as the awful stomach-ache that followed shortly after."

"Aw, poor tummy" I said, and I patted his stomach lightly.

His hand covered mine and he entwined our fingers, before bring my hand up to brush his lips against it. "What else would you like to hear about?"


	2. Chapter 2: Where the City Meets the Sea

**Hey I'm sorry the ending of the last chapter was such a cliffhanger.**

**Here are some more Edward anecdotes. **

**If you want to know anything more about Edward, just review and ask and I'll incoporate that into future chapters.**

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer except James and Henry**

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I paused to think. There was so much I wanted to know about Edward but he couldn't tell me all at once. In the moment, I wanted to know about his friends at school.

"You said you shared your apple pie with some friends…" I began. "Tell me about them."

"Hmm" He thought for a moment. "I don't remember much about my friends to be perfectly honest. I was the shy, quiet type and I kept to myself a lot. I remember my mother used to force me to go out on play dates. She was worried I didn't socialize often enough. But to be honest, the outside world held little interest for me. I was only interested in growing up, having a stable career, finding the perfect wife…"

He paused at that point, and squeezed me tighter against his chest. I looked up to have my lips captured in his, for a long, sweet kiss.

"Life just sort of…passed me by, you could say."

"Okay, but the few friends you had, were you close?"

"We grew up together. In those days everyone went to the same school and everyone knew everyone else pretty much. I think the two boys that I was closest to were James and Henry."

My eyes suddenly widened. Though most of my human memories were slightly blurry, my near death experiences with nomadic vampires were crystal clear. James (the nomad's) face flashed through my mind--his sneering, glaring, thristy look. I noticed I had stiffend, and quickly relaxed, but this didn't go unoticed.

"Bella, it's okay." Edward breathed. He slowly and soflty rubbed my back, calming me. "I won't let anyone touch you ever again. You're safe."

I waited a little before responding, getting a grip on myself.

"Thanks" I said softly, too low for human ears. "And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way. It's the past now."

"Oh Bella," Edward sighed. "Don't be sorry. Those events will forever be engraved in our minds and there's nothing we can do about it."

He paused. "Would you like me to continue?"

I nodded.

"Okay so James and Henry. I don't remember their family names. Although, I do remember they were similar in class to me, and Henry looked an awful lot like Ben Cheney. You remember him?"

I nodded and smiled, long past my earlier episode. "Of course, Angela's husband"

"The three of us were pretty close. We were quiet, but we still got into trouble quite often; usually for drawing stick figures on our slates with coloured chalk when we were supposed to be practising our multiplication tables."

"Oh Edward, you're such a rebel" I teased.

He mussed my hair and kissed it. "I was indeed, but I wasn't the worst, no. There was another boy—Arthur, I think—who would get beaten almost every other day for being cheeky or talking back to the teacher.

"James, Henry, and I had similar goals in life. When we were in our early teens sometimes we would take a trip down to lake Michigan and watch the sea stretch on for miles and miles, wondering what our lives would be like when we grew up…where we'd be in ten, twenty, even fifty years. I'd hoped I would be old and dying, surrounded by my children and grandchildren, and maybe even their children, knowing I had lived a wonderful life and done everything I could to make the lives of my descendants even better…"

Edward had trailed off, but I didn't even realize it. I was imagining Edward once again as a young teenager—thirteen, maybe fourteen. How he would look almost exactly the same as he does now, but younger, smaller, more boyish. I pictured him skipping rocks on the lake, swimming, wrestling and laughing with his friends as he did now with his adopted brothers.

I pictured him having a place all to himself, like our meadow, on the outskirts of town where he would go to think. He would lie down on the grass and bask in the sunlight of the afternoon. He would stay there all day until twilight when he'd realize his parents would start to worry. He wouldn't know that in less than half a decade all his dreams and predictions of the future would be shattered, to be replaced with a horrible, unpredictable eternity of darkness.

The thought crashed over me as I thought of the words he had just spoken; _I'd hoped I would be old and dying, surrounded by my children and grandchildren, and maybe even their children, knowing I had lived a wonderful life…_

Suddenly I could see why Edward hadn't wanted to change me. He'd never told me before, but I could see now that his opinion very much mirrored Rosalie's. None of the vampires I now called my family had been given a choice. They'd all had their lives planned out before them, they'd all had hopes and dreams for the future; Rosalie with her royal husband and children, Jasper prospering as a charismatic military officer…

They'd all had their dreams snatched out from under them. I had been aware of this before, but listening to Edward telling his version was all the more enlightening.

An odd, stinging sensation formed behind my eyes and I knew I would have been crying if I could. I took a shaky breath, breaking the dead silence only now I was aware of. This seemed to bring both of us back to reality in the meadow.

"I'm sorry…" Edward barely whispered into my ear. "Was that too much?"

"No," I replied, trying to regulate my breathing, "It wasn't too much. It was a little overwhelming, but I'm glad you told me. I guess it makes me feel a little closer to you, knowing what you dreamed about."

"That's good…I guess. But if you're ever uncomfortable, Bella, you need to tell me. I will stop right away. Besides I thought you wanted to hear about me." Edward said.

"I did, I mean, I do." I replied quickly. "But how about your music. Was it only after you became a vampire that you started to play?"

"Oh no, not at all," he laughed. "Of course, my exceptional ability to play only came a while after the transformation, but I was still quite the pianist while human. I think my mother taught me at first. She was also a great musician. But let me tell you, I loathed it in the beginning."

"Really?" I asked. Edward loved his music; I could not imagine him not liking it.

"Yeah. Although I don't think it was the playing itself I hated, it was the fact that at such a young age I wasn't very good at it." Edward said sheepishly.

"NO!" I playfully exclaimed. "Edward Anthony Masen Cullen not good at something? It's the end of the world!"

He laughed loudly and I felt the vibrations in his chest. "Yes, yes," he said. "I actually wasn't that good. But I did get better eventually. I could finally carry a tune by the time I turned eleven and knew all my scales and a few pieces off by heart by then as well."

"Did you ever write your own compositions while you were human?" I asked

"Not really, no. I sometimes wrote a few bars but that was as far as I ever got." He replied.

I nodded.

There was still so much more I wanted to known about.

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**Alright so if you guys have anymore ideas I would love to hear them!**


	3. Chapter 3: I Could Not Ask For More

**A new chapter, about a year later than the first….Oops.**

**Again, no one belongs to me.**

"_Did you ever write your own compositions while you were human?" I asked_

"_Not really, no. I sometimes wrote a few bars but that was as far as I ever got." He replied._

_I nodded._

_There was still so much more I wanted to know about._

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"Do you remember any of those pieces you wrote?" I asked.

Edward hesitated. I could tell that he was thinking, straining to remember. It was almost comical.

"I think so." He finally replied.

"Well then you definitely have to play them for me one day." I said as I poked him in the chest.

"I most certainly will if it pleases you. I'll play for Nessie too. It will certainly inspire another wonderful composition from her." Edward told me with a smile.

Edward had begun teaching Renesmee to play the piano, but after just one session she hardly needed him. She had several bars from Claire de Lune and my lullaby down pat already, and was beginning to develop pieces of her own. She would still ask Edward's advice for most of their harmonies though, and he was more than willing to oblige.

"Okay," I said after a moment. "I have another question."

"I thought we made a deal." Edward raised one of his eyebrows. "I get to see some of your memories now. Or are you going to go back on your word Isabella Cullen?"

I dared not look into his eyes, because I knew I would then not be able to deny him anything. He, instead, placed his finger underneath my chin and turned it so I had no choice but to lose myself in his warm, golden irises. He had just fed last night, with Jasper and Emmett, as a sort of "boys' night out", and so, just as I had predicted, I began to lose myself.

"You're lucky I don't have to remind you to breathe anymore." He smirked after a moment or two.

I tried to scowl, but on days like this I just couldn't manage. "Yeah, I guess…but still unlucky that your dazzling powers remain effective to this day."

Edward laughed. "Is that so?"

"You know that" I said, poking him again. Right then I noticed that this was probably one of those rare opportunities I had to distract Edward. It wasn't that I didn't want him to see my past or anything (Although, I was worried that some of my extremely embarrassing childhood memories would seep into my consciousness despite me trying to block them as I lifted my shield for Edward). I just really wanted to learn more about him.

Throughout our whole relationship, we never really discussed his human life. He always kept it to himself. Sure, sometimes he would treat me with moments from his time as a vampire, whenever we had free time, but never about his human life. It might be because I just never asked, or that now things were finally settling down and becoming the way they should be he was more at ease and willing to open up.

It's not like we ever really had time to talk though, either. Since the near-war with the Volturi, aside from our nightly love-making sessions we never spent that much time alone. Every morning we'd spend time with Renesmee, watching her grow and mature. Edward would teach her piano, I would simply talk with her about her best friend Jacob. I would tell her how he loved to fix things. He promised her that once she's big enough he'll show her how to fix cars. She doesn't know about Jake's and my history and I will wait to tell her until she's old enough—not physically, but emotionally; in a few years.

After this, Nessie would be whisked away by either Alice or Rosalie for some "much needed" shopping. Lucky for her she didn't inherit her mother's deep dislike of the frivolous activity. I would spend time with Jake, and Edward with his brothers. Jake and I wouldn't really talk much. Mostly we'd take blasts to the past and I would sit and watch as he worked on his latest project. Sometimes we'd exchange remarks about Nessie, but I think we both prefer to be silent.

After all this, Jake would whisk Nessie away to spend quality time with her. To this day Edward still scours Jake's mind to ensure his thoughts are appropriate. But what he discovers only confirms my reassurance to him that at this point Jake is only the best older brother anyone could ever have. We'd then spend time as a Cullen family. It was usually very eventful, always involved some sort of competition and was overall very fun.

Then, finally, Edward and I would make our way back to the cottage, and the cycle would begin again the next morning.

Three years ago, if someone were to try and explain to me the intense love and passion I had for Edward, I wouldn't think twice about laughing in their face. If they were to tell me again now I would laugh too, because it's so much more than that. I crave to be with him, I crave to know more and more about him so much it's more surreal that I ever thought was imaginable. I need to know about his human life, just as much as he wants to know about mine.

"I'm thirsty." I suddenly said. It wasn't that I was thirsty so much that I was craving a good and juicy deer (and trying to avoid divulging into my own memories)

Edward chuckled. "I've done it enough times myself to know that you're only trying to distract me. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and pretend that I don't notice the fact that your irises are barely dark."

I rolled my eyes, but was thankful he was so willing to give in.

**Again, sorry it took me so long!!!!!!!!**


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